light

As I consider the power of light, I remember a cold, dark October night in a small town on Long Island—a town in which I was a visiting stranger. I still recall the feeling of roaming up and down the confusing streets, looking for a light.

My life to that point—especially the preceding decade—had largely been spent in a sort of dark fog, trying to make my life work on my own terms. I think we’ve all walked those dark streets, in one form or another, at some time in our lives. Those uncomfortable memories are what make our eventual discovery of Truth so much richer.

There are Christmas tales that are told repeatedly, whether conveyed by song, film, or the printed page. They’ve become part of the lexicon we use to express what Christmas means to us.

While on the surface there are obvious differences between the cultural and spiritual expressions of Christmas, their messages really are the same. The stories we tell today are ones that have stood the test of time, and the mixing and evolution of cultures. Traditions born from long, cold nights are today celebrated in the southern hemisphere where it’s summer in December, on tropical islands, and in non-Christian countries.

We are living today in a complex and changing world. If there is one thing one needs more than anything else, it is light: light in terms of insight into self, guidance along life’s way, knowledge of the secrets of the universe, and the wisdom to use light and not abuse it. The clearest thinkers the race has produced have always seen the course of their lives as the quest for light. It is said that Goethe, who spent his life on this quest, gasped the last words on his deathbed: “More light!”1